The police claimed the blonde angel must be a victim of child sex trafficking ring, mostly because of her pale complexion being so different from her Roma gypsy parents, who are noticeably darker skinned. A DNA test comparing Maria with her Roma gypsy family confirmed they are not her biological parents, but they claim they haven’t done anything wrong.

Constantinos Katsavos, one of the lawyers representing the Roma gypsy parents named Christos Salis and Eleftheria Dimopoulou, claims the blonde angel’s biological mother willingly gave her to them as a baby because she could not look after her:

“It was an adoption that was not exactly legal but took place with the mother’s consent.”

The story of how Maria came to be with the Roma has multiple versions, but none of them have indicated kidnapping.

The Roma gypsy groups, or the Romani people, are an ethnic group who trace their origin to the Indian Subcontinent. They have been dispersed throughout the world and can be found throughout Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, and even the United States and Brazil. They are well-known for not settling in one place and traveling the world. For example, French police moved into clear out a Roma gypsy settlement, only to find that ninety families had slipped away quietly in the night.

Andreas Hieronymus, a researcher at the European Network Against Racism, says this legend is mere bigotry:

“The allegation that Roma steal children is a long-lasting myth about the Roma minority.”

The head of the Roma association in central Greece claims the couple treated the blonde angel just as well as their biological children and that Maria loved them. But Smile of the Child, the organization watching Maria currently, claims the four-year-old blonde angel isn’t asking to go back to her parents and that she’s now “absolutely calm” in contrast to the “state of shock” she was in earlier.

Regardless of how the blonde angel came to be with her Roma gypsy parents, there are also many issues with official documentation and police claims the birth papers are forged. Police say the parents “received about $3,420 a month in subsidies from three different cities where they had registered the children.” Greece is in the middle of a recession, with unemployment at 30 percent, and many Roma are on welfare. The parents are also charged with illegally possessing a gun and other drug-related offenses.

Still, Amnesty International has detailed “massive discrimination” against Roma gypsy people in general. Many are illiterate and a majority of Europeans refuse to associate with them. Reporters say stereotypes have the Roma gypsy people afraid of a reprisal for the news reports mentioning human trafficking:

“The problem is that anytime there is a case where Roma are involved, the case gets (ethnically loaded). The preoccupation in the case of Roma means poverty, begging, slums, dirt, a lack of education and crime.”

It should also be noted that the Roma prefer not to be referred to as gypsies. Even though that’s how they are commonly referred to, and searched for on the internet, the Romani find the label insulting.

What do you think about the blonde angel case involving the Roma gypsy people?